What the Apple Watch means for Fitness

What the Apple Watch means for Fitness

Okay so smart watches aren’t exactly new, remember the old Casio calculators and PDA watches in the late 80’s & early 90’s?. And wearable tech has been coming on leaps and bounds in the last few years to varying degrees of success. So with the recent announcement that early next year Apple will be releasing it’s Apple Watch the world of wearable tech just got a whole lot more serious.

But, the Apple Watch goes above and beyond your average watch this is a device that isn’t just a fitness tracker it comes with a notifications center, an activity tracker, a health monitoring app, GPS, sophisticated motion sensors, a built-in heart rate monitor, and plenty of new apps designed to help you set, track, and accomplish fitness goals.

There are plenty of fitness trackers out there, Up!, Fitbit, etc… that log steps you have taken & calories that have been burned but the Apple Watch will be able to do so much more, it in-built apps can measure three different types of movement from distance covered, calories you burn, wether you have stood up, sat down, climbed some stairs or walked up a hill. Add to that the sports version of the watch will have a heart rate sensor to see exactly how much work you have done & the Apple Watch starts to look like a compelling piece of kit.

Using GPS allows the Apple Watch to deliver more accurate readings for total movement & fans of the Nike+ running app will be pleased to know that the app will work with this watch. The only drawback is it needs to sync with your phone to function — the GPS chip on the phone records your movements, and the watch pulls that data off the phone so you still need to carry it around but not necessarily on an arm strap. Hopefully Version 2.0 Apple Watch models will come with true built in GPS just like the TomTom Multi Sports watch or the Garmin.

You can also stream music through the watch & into wireless headphones, again though the streaming comes from your iPhone so you’ll still need to have it with but it’s a feature nonetheless that other fitness wearables have yet to offer.

The Apple Watch is going to be far from perfect, just like the first iPhone was with Edge (2.5G). It will however cement the industry & it’s competitors into taking the watch (and wearable fitness) market more seriously & that’s when with the likes of Samsung, LG & Moto developing & designing a competitor to the Apple Watch that things will really get smart & interesting.